


Eyes Full Of Crystal Lakes and Mountains Torn

by StarsWithHiddenFires



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, Asexual Josh Dun, Dyslexia, F/M, Gen, I sure don't - Freeform, I wholeheartedly believe he's a dork, Josh and Tyler are going to be the best of bros, Josh meets Debby and knows Halsey but they're also just buds, Miscommunication, Texting, aroace Josh Dun, josh is called a dork two times alone in the first chapter, josh works at this cool art store, probably more random band people as the story goes on, they do have a band but it's later, to be honest I'm largely making up the personality of the people sorry, well that's a lie, who even knows what tyler does for a job, wrong numbers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6226486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsWithHiddenFires/pseuds/StarsWithHiddenFires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which Josh works at an art store and meets Tyler through a wrong number, all because of that dratted dyslexia<br/>(let's hope this'll be interesting) <br/>(basically an AU in which Josh is a shy, awkward-ish dude with dyslexia and Tyler has wise advice)</p>
<p>[if that sounds lame that's because it probably is I apologize]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And the Story Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this'll be a multi-chaptered story  
> I have absolutely no clue as to how long it will be, sorry  
>  ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> updates prolly won't be that frequent, again I apologize  
> (+ the title has basically no relevance it's from a cool song called 'Rays' by To Kill A King (which is an amazing band :D)
> 
> Basically (it took me way too many tries to type basically I keep typing a 't' it's official I'm Bastille trash oops) this is an AU in which Josh works at this cool art store, and next door there's this cool cafe where Halsey [and prolly others we'll see] works (but that's not super important to know I say it in the story anyways), and through some shenanigans he meets Tyler and it's cool (at least I hope so)  
> Plus, Josh drums for random bands whenever as well

     Josh sighed, standing up. He twisted his shoulders and arms back and forth, his spine emitting loud pops that earned him a strange look from his one coworker. Josh ran his fingers through his fading lavender hair, fingers getting caught on the occasional tangles. His jaw popped as he yawned, and his vision blurred momentarily at the involuntary tears that sprung into his eyes.

  
     Josh’s eyes wandered from the display of various brands of paintbrushes and canvases to the clock that sat up on the wall. The plain black and white timepiece showed 10:25—he still had to wait five more minutes before he could officially flip the sign from ‘Open!’ to ‘Closed’ and finish closing up the shop. His fingers restlessly tapped a beat against the counter, before he shook his head and darted from behind the counter to sort a container of paintbrushes back into their original categorization. He heard a fond yet exasperated sigh from behind him. “C’mon Josh, that’s really not that important.”

  
     He finished placing the last two paintbrushes in their correct spots, before turning back to his coworker. “Hey hey hey, Dustin, I mean it’s more helpful for customers when the paintbrushes are in order. Also, I needed something to keep myself occupied. See, it’s already been four minutes! We have just one minute, then we’re set free,” Josh said with a smile.

  
     Dustin fondly rolled his eyes before shrugging in acceptance. “Whatever you dork. Go ahead and flip the sign—I’m almost done back here, and you’ve already swept the floor, so that’s good. Let’s just get this done then we can go.”

  
     Josh flashed a thumbs-up before meandering through the organized chaos of the art store to the front. He narrowly messed catching his apron on a table’s edge, but finally made it through the maze to the front door. The sign flipped around with a satisfied air. Josh then dared the perilous maze again to get back to the register. When he had made it out of the fray unscathed, Josh untied and lifted the paint-splattered and faded apron over his head before hanging it up. He cracked his back again before turning to look at Dustin. “Alright, anything else?” he asked Dustin.

  
     “Nah, it’s all good. You’re not scheduled for a shift tomorrow, right?” Josh nodded, then Dustin continued. “Cool man, have a nice weekend. See you on Monday.” The two exchanged nods before Josh reached down below the counter to grab his space-themed backpack and longboard, and once more braved the tables and art supplies. He waved one last time to Dustin as he exited the door, the bell tinkling cheerfully.

  
     Josh set his longboard down before hopping on and pushing off. Thankfully he only lived a few blocks away, so he theoretically could have walked, but honestly, skating was so much better. He yawned again, and blearily glanced around. Thankfully, there wasn’t too much sidewalk traffic on the street he was on, and Josh was able to speedily make it home to his apartment.

  
     He reached down and grabbed his longboard before fumbling with the keys for a little bit, the dark and his tiredness hindering his movements before Josh finally managed to open the door. He rest the skateboard against the wall before swinging off his backpack. His phoned dinged suddenly, and he scrambled for a bit before fishing his phone out of his jacket pocket.

  
     The bright screen of his phone showed a text from his friend Ashley. “Hey dork, don’t forget tomorrow, okay? Okay, I’ll pick you up at 5:00 (get some sleep)”. A gentle smile lifted the corners of Josh’s mouth. Ashley, or Halsey, as she preferred to be called, worked at the small bakery/café that was next door to the art store Josh worked at, and they had struck up an easy friendship, initially bonding over their love for unnaturally colored hair. However, his smile turned into more of a grimace as he recalled what she had planned. It had been her birthday in a few days ago, and she wanted to get a small group of friends together to bar-hop. Josh normally would have engaged in the festivities somewhat, but since he rarely drank alcohol and was rather responsible, he was deemed the official designated driver (not that they were driving far or anything, but just in case) and the "chaperone" (everyone in the group was an adult, but still, the group wanted the evening to be all fun, and took measures to safeguard against problems).  Another mark against the evening was that Josh generally hated social situations.

  
     The only two consolations were that it was bound to be fun and energetic, due to Halsey organizing the event, and the fact that the bar they would probably spend the longest time in was next to an art gallery that was holding a show Josh was interested in attending. Josh quickly tapped out an “urgh fine (you too pal)” and sent it off.

  
     His eyelids began to droop, so he quickly dropped his backpack on his desk in his room before kicking his shoes off in the general direction of his closet (he was probably going to regret that later when he undoubtedly would trip over them, but the effort to fix the placement of his shoes seemed to Herculean for the moment). He exchanged his button-up for a loose t-shirt and his skinny jeans for a pair of grey basketball shorts before heading into the small bathroom to brush his teeth.

 

     By the time he had finished everything, including setting an alarm for 10:00—he may have not had anything planned until Halsey’s event that night, but he didn’t want to completely screw up his sleeping schedule, closing the blinds, and flopping around on his small bed until he managed to wriggle under the covers, Josh felt slightly surreal. He was that stage when one is almost asleep but still moving about, but soon he remedied his situation by embracing the soft hands of sleep almost before his pastel-colored head touched his pillow.


	2. Wake Up You Need to Make Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Josh is NOT a morning person, and his cat is introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops so yeah this isn't proofread sorry  
> I really should proofread it but.... but.. I have no excuse  
> so I apologize for any errors, feel free to point them out! (actually if you do find errors please point them out I die a little on the inside when I'm scrolling through the document and find random errors)  
> My updates for this will probably be quite sporadic oops
> 
> (my titles are lame, it's official)
> 
> oH! if anybody has suggestions on the two other people Halsey knows please, pleASE give me suggestions (I don't know much about Halsey, she's just a character in this story because I think she's pretty cool, but I don't know her personality or people she hangs out with very well)

                The beeping of his alarm dragged him out of his sleep, and he reluctantly cracked open an eye before flopping his hand around on his bedside table to turn of the tortuous device.  The blaring sound finally ceased, and Josh smiled slightly before burrowing back into his blankets. 

                However, his reprieve didn’t last as long as he had hoped.  What felt like mere second later, but he knew was theoretically five minutes, the alarm went off again.  Josh rolled his eyes—mentally, mind you, to actually do so would be too much effort at the moment—but this time heaved himself up into a sitting position before flopping his hand along the table in an effort to find the blasted thing.  His left hand rubbed at his sleep-encrusted eyes, and he yawned loudly. 

                He finally attained success with his alarm and managed to silence it.  Josh swung his legs out of bed and shockingly nearly fell flat on his face when he tripped over his shoes.  No matter how many times it had happened, he never seemed to learn.  He mustered up a weak glare at the offending items, before continuing his journey out of his room, down the hall, and into kitchen in search of caffeine.  He groaned again in frustration and contemplated banging his head repeatedly against the wall when he realized he hadn’t set the coffee up the night before.

                Josh blearily made his way around the kitchen, somehow managing to not spill all of the coffee grounds.  After a bit of fumbling around, he finally hit the start button on the coffee machine and leaned back against the small kitchen island, satisfied. 

                After the coffee brewed, during Josh almost fell asleep again, he grabbed a mug and poured himself the caffeinated beverage.  He took several leisurely sips of the plain black coffee, relishing the quiet morning and his gradual wakening. 

                Once he had finished the mug, he rinsed the mug and placed it into the sink, then meandered from his kitchen into the living room.  He flopped down onto the cushiony grey chair next to the window and stared outside, the coffee still sweeping out the remains of cobwebs of sleep from his brain.  His thoughts wandered towards the event that night, and as if on cue, he heard the specialized ringtone Halsey had set for herself emanating from his bedroom.  With a dramatic sigh—which was absolutely wasted, as no one was around to see his amazing acting skills—Josh heaved himself up and trotted over to the ringing phone. 

                “Yeeess?” he asked, dragging out the word, and flopped onto his unmade bed.

                “Hey Josh! Wait you sound tired did I wake you up? Actually if I did I’m not sorry it’s already past 10:30, you _should_ be up by now.” Josh blinked slowly at the sudden rush of words. 

                “Good morning to you too Halsey.  And no, I was up at 10:00, but as you know, I’m not a morning person.” As if to illustrate his point, his jaw cracking as he yawned.  “Anyways, why did you call me? Everything alright?”

                “Oh yeah! Everything’s great.  One of the reasons I wanted to call you was to tell you that as of now, we’ve got—let’s see, uh, six people? I invited both of the Dans--you know the two that work at the café, right?—and their friends (which is funny you know because they each have three really good friends--wait! No, the blond Dan has four), and both of the Dans could come but only one of the friends could come.  Then of course we’ve got my pal Brendon—who I think you’ve met once before, he’s that really energetic and talkative guy that sometimes comes by the café—and then two other people that you don’t know. Sorry, that was kinda complicated, especially with the Dans and stuff.”

                Josh grinned at that, before answering, “Cool! Sounds like it’ll be sick.  We’re all meeting at Chipotle first though, right?”

                “Yup!  I think Dan—the one with the black hair—might be driving over, but everyone else that I know is taking Uber or something, so you don’t have to worry about our cars.  Thanks Yoshua for agreeing to do this, you know you’re the bestsest, right?”

                He laughed at that.  “Hah, of course Hals!  It’s your birthday, c’mon.  Okay now I’m probably going to go watch more X-Files, so unless you have something else to say then bye, see ya later.”

                “Alligator!” she quickly responded, before bursting into giggles.  “I don’t even know where that came from. Anyways enjoy your space show you nerd, see you later,” Halsey said fondly. 

                He bid her farewell, then rolled over and off on to his bed.  An “oof” escaped him, muffled by the carpet—he had misjudged the distance that he had left on his bed, certainly not for the first time, and probably not for the last time.  He heaved himself up off of the floor, and glanced down at his bed.   He shrugged his shoulders, and decided he might as well make up his bed and be somewhat productive before he went and watched Netflix. 

 

o—------O—------o

 

                Two and a half hours later, he finally plopped himself and his laptop down on the couch.  He had gotten distracted after making his bed and finally putting up his shoes by his cat Meowcroft meowing loudly for food, and then he himself had gotten distracted by his stomach rumbling, which led to pizza rolls.  He had dropped some of the tomato sauce on his arm, which was hot and hurt, so he had rinsed it off and remembered he needed to take a shower.  ‘Man, this is starting to sound like one of those ‘If You Give A Moose A Muffin’ or something books’ Josh thought. 

                Anyways, he had taken the shower and remembered that he had to shave.  As he was shaving, he had inspected his fading hair and come to the conclusion that it was about time for him to re-dye it, and he wanted a new color, but he couldn’t think of one. He had shrugged, then finished shaving.  Once he had finished that, he realized that his living room and kitchen were messes, and so he worked on cleaning that up.  When he had finally accomplished all of that, Josh remembered that he had originally wanted to watch the X-files.  The only down side to his cleaning up was that by then it was already 1:30, and so he only had until 4:00 to watch before he had to get ready, then leave.  He mentally shrugged, before opening Netflix and beginning to watch the X-files.  His hands absently stroked the fur on Meowcroft’s back as he was engrossed in the show.

 

o—------O—------o

 

                Before Josh knew it, it was time for him to get ready.  He heaved the overheated laptop and cat off of him, then got off of the couch to go change.  Josh gently set the computer down on his desk and plugged it in, before turning around to face his closet.

                He pondered for a moment of what to wear, before grabbing a pair of black skinny jeans and his black vans.  Josh then turned to his small dresser, and opened his t-shirt drawer.  He gnawed on his bottom lip at the decisions in front of him.  

                “Honestly, I have way too many shirts,” he muttered to himself, before pulling out a half white, half black-with-white-stars shirt and an x-files themed loose tank top.  After deliberating for a few minutes, Josh shrugged and selected the starred shirt, then grabbed a blue and black flannel shirt to ward off the coolness from the early Los Angeles-November weather.

                He quickly changed, then grabbed his wallet and car keys from out of his backpack where it rested on his desk.  Meowcroft glared at Josh from his perch on the back of the sofa, and Josh apologetically scratched the cat’s head.  “I’ll be back soon Meowcroft, it won’t be too long.  Hey!” This was directed at the dark grey paw that suddenly swiped at Josh’s hand.  He knew it was childish and wouldn’t have any effect, but he still stuck his tongue out at his cat, before giving him one last pat and walking out the door, whistling cheerfully. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is even somewhat in character ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> and yes Josh's cat is named Meowcroft because I watch Sherlock and I love it  
> I have no clue if Josh actually watches it, but I feel like he would appreciate the pun  
> but hey also maybe not ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> but cool yeah thanks for reading,  
> you're all sick as frick  
> stay street pals


	3. And I Believe This May Call For A Proper Introduction (Don't You See, I'm The Narrator And This Is Just The Prologue?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the introduction of the masses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is dialogue heavy oops and just a filler
> 
> and I have no clue what Lorde's like I just like her music and needed someone, she probably wont make a re-appearance after this  
> and I also have no idea if Lynn likes the X-files but yeah cool  
> ( just minor edits were made--if it shows up again sorry)

                Josh’s whistling gradually died off and had stopped by the time he got to his car.  Once he had started the car, he absentmindedly flicked through the radio stations.  He didn’t really care what the song was, and was just hoping to just fill the silence that saturated the air.  A song that he had heard a few times before came on, so Josh stopped switching stations and bobbed his head along with the music, occasionally drumming along with his thumbs on the steering wheel.  He weaved his way through the throngs of LA traffic, humming along with the music every now and then. 

                Josh finally pulled up in front of the Chipotle, a relieved sigh puffing out of his mouth.  He was a pretty patient person, but traffic was never fun, and the drivers of LA would test the patience of even the calmest person.  He shut the ignition off and pulled out the keys, then shoved them into his back pocket, along with his wallet.  He held his phone in his hand, and briefly checked the screen for any updates.  Halsey had texted him while he was driving over—he guessed the radio had covered up the alert sound—saying that she, Brendon, and one of her friends Josh didn’t know were already there. 

                He cautiously opened his door and squeezed out of the narrow opening.  Somebody had decided that they just _had_ to park their absolutely massive truck in the second open spot, and have nearly a third of their truck hanging over into the only other available spot.  Josh sighed but still managed to wriggle his way out and on to the sidewalk without damaging anything.  He made his way into the restaurant, and was greeted by a loud, “Yoshua! About time too! We were just about to start without you.”

                He snorted slightly and waved back at Halsey and the two people she was with.  The guy, who Josh vaguely remembered, was tall-ish, but looked even taller with his hair styled up and was energetic, while the girl Halsey was with had brown hair shaved at the sides, a nose piercing, and a cat-scratch styled left eyebrow.

                The three of them were gathered just inside the doors and hadn’t ordered yet—Josh supposed they were being considerate and waiting for the rest to arrive.  He meandered over to them and gave Halsey a hug, and wished her a ‘happy birthday party’, then praised her new hair.  She had dyed it bright teal-blue a couple of months back, and had recently re-dyed it and added a bright yellow streak on her left side, and she’d also had it cut to just above her shoulders.  She reminded Josh of a bright tropical bird, with her newly colored hair, lively chatter and quick movements.

                “Alright, so this is Brendon—I’m pretty sure you both remember each other, at the very least how you both look.” Brendon and Josh exchanged the slightly-awkward but still-somewhat-comfortable nods of people who’ve only met once or twice, but had seen each other in passing more frequently.

                Josh turned to the unknown person next to him and stuck out his hand.  “Hi, I’m Josh, my name’s not actually Yoshua, that would be strange—not that if that’s an actual name it’s strange… you know what I’ll just quite while I’m ahead.”  He trailed off, his face heating up.  Meeting new people wasn’t really his thing.  Talking to new people wasn’t really his thing. In fact, new people weren’t really his thing.

                The girl smiled easily, putting Josh somewhat at more ease.  “Hey, I’m Lynn. I’ve known Halsey for a while, we went to the same college and were roommates.  She mentioned you like the X-Files?” 

                Josh’s eyes lit up in excitement.  “Yeah! That’s my favorite show.  Have you seen any of it?”

                He vaguely saw Halsey roll her eyes and heard her mutter to Brendon, “Well now you’ve lost the two of them,” but he was way too preoccupied with discussing the various seasons, stories, characters, and a multitude of other aspects about the X-Files with his new-found best friend to even consider responding snarkily.

 

o—------O—------o

 

                Josh and Lynn were rudely jerked back into reality when a small hoard of other people charged through the Chipotle doors.  Halsey hugged each of the four newcomers, and then they all tramped over to the counter to order.  Josh recognized three out of the four from the cafe that Halsey worked at, but he didn't really know them.

                Once they had gotten their food—and of course made fun of other people’s choices, the group sat down at a booth.  Halsey cleared her throat, and said, in a mock-serious voice, “All right, we must all go around this circle—it’s really more of a square without one side, but whatever, forget technicalities—and introduce ourselves, and also say all the instruments you play, because I _know_ all of you are musically inclined, don’t lie, and tell us a random fact.  I’ll start us off, because why not.  Also, this is really lame, but you don’t all know each other so it’s a good introduction.”  Josh snorted slightly at the fake pretentious tone Halsey had used. 

                “Alright you all know I’m Halsey, and I sing and play a ton of instruments, like the guitar, violin, viola, cello, piano, clarinet, and what else… oh! The mandolin.  I don’t play the others as much now, mostly just the guitar and stuff. Oh and I really like dyeing my hair different colors. Okay, cool, that was me, hmm, Brendon, you go next and we’ll go in a clockwise order.”  Josh felt his eyebrows creep up to his hairline at the long list of varied instruments Halsey played, but was quickly distracted by the boisterous man next to her.

                “So I’m Brendon, in case you somehow happened to miss that.  Uh, I also play a ton of instruments, like the keyboard, accordion, piano, organ, cello, bass, drums, guitar and trumpet. And I sing.  I also really really really love Frank Sinatra, and Halsey and I jam out a lot. That was two facts, but whatever.  Okay next person!” Throughout his small speech, Brendon ran his hand through his hair in an absent minded way, and Josh thought it was either a habit, or Brendon was very specific about how he looked—after a bit of watching, Josh decided it was the latter. 

                The next person at the table was one that Josh knew better.  “Hey, I’m Dan, and I play keyboard, synth, the organ, piano, guitar, bass, and drums, and I sing too.  So far the first three of us sing, which is cool.  Oh, I work at the same café as Halsey.”  Dan scratched the side of his head, and nervously re-did his long hair back into a bun.  Josh smiled to himself—Dan looked like a classic hipster-café worker, with his long hair, scruff, and skinny jeans.

                “Hi, I’m Ella, but I go by Lorde—with an E at the end, because it looks better—and I don’t really play any instruments, but I love singing, and I like to write music.  I guess my random fact would be that I’m from New Zealand, and I’m here to study.”  She smiled at the table, her purple-black lipsticked lips turning up slightly.  She was the only one who who Josh hadn't recognized. 

                The next person was Josh himself.  He felt his face heating up slightly, but reminded himself that he hadn’t done anything that merited embarrassment—yet, at least.  “Uh, hi, I’m Josh.  I play the drums and the trumpet, but not the trumpet that much, I just played it in middle school.”  He bit the inside of his lip when it caught up to him how much he had rambled.  “I work at the art store next to Halsey, and the X-Files are my life.  That was two things, sorry,” Josh ducked his head in slight embarrassment, but was nudged by Lynn next to him for a high-five. 

                “The X-Files really are amazing, they’re so out of this world,” she whispered.  Josh shyly highfived her, and smiled, his eyes scrunching up at her joke. 

                Lynn cleared her throat and spoke at a normal voice.  “My name’s Lynn Gunn,” she said, and did finger-guns at everyone, which got reactions ranging from amused eyerolls—Lorde—to giggles—Halsey and Brendon, and most things in between.  “Yes, I am that lame.  Moving on to the next part of our introduction, I like to scream and call it singing—well, I do actually sing sometimes, but yelling is fun—and I also play the guitar and keyboard.  There might be others but right now I can’t remember.  I really like creating art, and Paris is an awesome place.”

                Kyle, the person to Lynn’s left—another tall, lanky person—smiled at the group and said, “Hi, I’m Kyle, I play the keys and bass, and sometimes the drums. I _love_ cats, I’m probably going to end up as one of those crazy cat ladies.  I’m sometimes really hyper, and this is one of those times, just to forewarn you.  Dan—the one next to me—and I, and our other two friends who were busy and couldn’t come, are staying here for studies like Lorde, but we’re from England.” The person sitting on Kyle’s left amusedly rolled his eyes.

                Josh stared at the person on Kyle’s left—he was always surprised at his hair’s complete disregard for gravity. “I’m Dan, which is rather confusing, as there are two Dans, sorry about that. Er, I play the piano, keyboard, drums, and the melodica, which is this strange instrument that’s like a harmonica’s cousin.” As he was speaking, his long fingers fiddled with a red, yellow, and green bracelet on his left wrist.  Kyle nudged Dan, and the tall, pale man instead ran his fingers through his black hair, which made it stand up even more, reinforcing the hedgehog look Dan had going.  “I also squawk sometimes and call it singing.  Kyle and I work at the café with Halsey and Dan, which really gets confusing with two Dans.”

                “Cool, so now everyone knows everybody, kinda.  Let’s finish eating, then we’ll head out, sound good?” Halsey asked.  The group wholeheartedly agreed, and quickly demolished their food.  Once they were finished, the group made its way out to Josh’s car.  After some maneuvering, which involved the setting up of the back row, and Lynn, Lorde, and Halsey—with a “who cares if it’s my birthday Josh, I’m one of the shortest, and none of them are under six feet, and besides, like you said, it’s my birthday, so shush pal”—clambering into the backseat, the group was off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> hopefully there'll be more plot later  
> if there're any mistakes feel free to point them out pals


	4. We All Fell Down When The Sun Came Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some partying, some art, and some new people  
> (and in which there are many shameless references)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello  
> I haven't updated in a bit of time  
> I know  
> I haven't been the most dependable  
> of authors
> 
> (oops but yeah, that was almost a month. sorry, I'm a sporadic updater, I do apologize. I've got finals and tests coming up so I probably shall fall off of the face of this earth for a while again, sorry)  
> If there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out :D I do try to read over what I write, but sometimes I either don't at all, or when I do I miss it, so I apologize. This is also the longest chapter so far!  
> But without further ado, here's the story (I hope it's all right)

                The pulsing beat of the music and the flashing lights combined with the almost overpowering smell of bodies mingling together and heat from the crowd overwhelmed Josh.  He could feel his breaths coming faster and faster, his chest expanding less and less.  The crowd of people seemed endless, but Josh continued to worm his way through.  

                Finally, _finally_ , after what seemed like an eon, Josh managed to push his wait out through the doors.  He stood for a moment in the cool, clear night, his breath coming out in short bursts.  After his breathing evened out, Josh straightened his back, his spine popping softly.  The pulsing music in the venue had faded to a dull thumping out on the quieter street.  Josh took out his phone to pass the time and to distract himself.  Though the street wasn’t very crowded, there was a fair amount of people who passed by, some entering the venue, some leaving it, and some going to a brightly lit modern-looking building across the street.  This caught the lavender-haired person’s attention, and he peered curiously across the street.  In the excitement and chaotic fun, Josh had forgotten his original plan to go visit the art gallery.  He smiled to himself, and texted the group chat Halsey had made with an “I’ll be across the street at the art gallery if anyone needs me.”   He doubted they would for a while—the bar they were at was the most energetic one of the night, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.  Plus, it was the last place they were planning on going to before they headed home. 

                Josh quickly crossed the street.  The gallery looked warm and inviting, with cheerful people milling about.  Josh didn’t know very much about the exhibit, just that it was free and had some of his favorite modern artist.  He made his way up the steps to the propped open doors, and smiled slightly at the door attendant, who handed Josh a bulletin.  “Welcome to the show!” said the man cheerfully.  Josh couldn’t help but to think that the man looked rather like a hipster Dumbledore—not, of course, that he would ever say that aloud. 

                Josh stepped through the open door, admiring the gallery.  The front room was bright and very modern, chrome and white and subtle accenting colors.  There were only two pieces of art hanging in the room, both of which Josh glanced at briefly but didn’t dwell on.  The next room was much larger, though still retaining the white and chrome scheme.  The room had several partial walls, giving the illusion of rooms while keeping the open sense.  The room was filled with a good amount of people—not too many overcrowd it, and not too few to make Josh feel awkward and intrusive.   
                The first piece Josh looked at was an incredible mural that spanned the whole right wall.  It looked like an epic dystopian-futuristic-sci-fi world, with five characters in the middle, four that were adults and holding strangely shaped guns, and they were standing around one younger kid.  Josh absently noted with great approval the fabulous hair of the four adults in the mural.  The name of the mural was ‘Make Some Noise’ by M.C.R.  Josh hadn’t ever heard of that artist before, but mentally noted to look into them. 

                He moved on to the next, an abstract piece of art that was interesting, but not really Josh’s style.  He did like the bright colors in it though.  The next piece was more his style, a swirling mix of vibrant and dark colors that reminded him of space and parts of his tattoo sleeve.

 

o—------O—------o

 

                Josh meandered about the gallery, looking at the different styles and pieces.  About fifteen minutes after he walked in, Josh grabbed some of the offered food before continuing around the room.  After he had looked at least briefly over all of the paintings, Josh got a bottle of water and sipped it as he looked more studiously at the pieces he liked. Eventually he made it back to the first mural and stood there, a smile on his face.  It truly was a masterpiece, with amazing colors and ideas, and everything looked stunningly realistic. 

                Josh was suddenly interrupted from his musings by a cheerful, “It’s astounding, isn’t it? It makes you feel like it’s a portal into the actual world—it’s dirty, painful, and real.  Or at least, that’s how I feel.”  He felt his body jerk in surprise at the unexpected voice.  He turned his head to look at his new companion, and couldn’t help but smile at the girl—her bright smile was incredibly infectious.  “Hi! I’m Debby.  I love your hair!”   Josh shook her outstretched hand and then ran his hand through his faded hair. 

                “Uh, thanks! I’m Josh.  Your hair is sick.”  Debby smiled widely at that, her eyes glittering merrily. 

                “Thanks! I couldn’t decide between pink and green, so I thought ‘Why not both?’ and here I am, with both.  I had it purple, and then platinum a while back, but I wanted to shake it up.”

                The two of them launched into an easy conversation that began with various hair styles and colors they had tried through the years, went on to favorite animals—both said cats and high-fived—and favorite colors, then evolved into various things they enjoyed doing.  Josh learned that Debby was an actress and also played in a band—they both agreed that he should definitely go see her some time—and that she had a septum piercing but didn’t have it in tonight.  In turn, he told her that he played drums and love to do so by himself and with other bands —to which she said they should absolutely get together and jam out sometime (Josh agreed)—and that he worked at an art store next to the  Grin and Bear It Café.  Debby exclaimed that she loved to go there, and was in fact friends with Brendon.  She and Josh shared a laugh that they hadn’t met before this.   They both also agreed that the doorman looked like a hipster Dumbledore—well, at first Debby had said that he looked like Gandalf, but Josh quickly pointed out how much more Dumbledore-like the man looked, and after a bit of debating and deliberating, Debby agreed with a philosophical air.

                Their conversation revealed that they both shared a strong love for The Killers and coffee.   After this realization, Debby said, “Well that settles it, you’re my new favorite person.  Do you want to exchange numbers and meet up for coffee?”

                Here Josh paused a moment and felt his face heat up.  He really hope she didn’t mean it as a date—she was very nice and rather pretty, but Josh…well, Josh didn’t want to ruin a possibly amazing friendship.  “Um, sure, what’s your number, and do you have a pen?” He asked.  Debby quickly unearthed a pen from her bag, and handed it over to Josh.  He wrote down the number as she rattled it off, and asked her to repeat it, just to be sure.  It at least _looked_ correct, but he wasn’t absolutely sure—dyslexia sure didn’t make life convenient—but didn’t want to ask her a third time, and she had already moved on.

                “So I was thinking maybe we could go to this great indie coffee shop—it’s similar to the Grin And Bear It Café, but more hipster and less punk rock.  When do you have a free moment?”

                Josh began to nervously shake his leg.  “Wednesday would probably be good for me.  Just to be clear, this isn’t a date…? I mean you’re a lovely person and all Debby, but I’m just…”  He trailed off, his face red, and stared at the mural in front of him.

                “You play for the other team?  Which, if you do, it’s totally fine.” Came the quick, easy response from his companion.

                “Well, n-not really.  I don’t really play for any team…?” Josh said hesitantly. 

                “Hey, that’s awesome dude!  One of my cousins is like that, I get it.  So yeah, not a date, don’t worry.  Just two pals being pals.  And yeah, Wednesday is good for me too!”  Josh smiled gratefully at his bubbly new friend. 

                Before the moment got awkward, Debby gracefully steered it back into the conversation’s initial direction—hair.  “Are you going to re-dye your hair?  I mean you could totally leave it like that, it looks cool, with your dark roots growing in,” she asked.

                Josh smiled thankfully at her again for keeping the conversation going.  “I actually was! I was thinking about doing it tomorrow, but I haven’t decided on what hair color I want.  Ooh, if I pick a few colors to choose from, could you help me decide? I can send you pictures.”

                The two then launched into an animated conversation about the merits of different methods of dying and various brands of hair color. The time ticked by without notice, until suddenly the two noticed that there were only three other people milling about.  Josh checked his watch and felt his eyebrows soar to his hairline at the time.  They had spent nearly two hours talking, and it was almost 1:30am.  Josh was surprised that the gallery was still open. 

                The two bid each other farewells, with cheerful and genuine promises to contact each other.  Josh crossed back over the street to the bar.  The pack of people in the bar had only diminished slightly, and he had a rather difficult time finding his group of friends.  He had rounded up Lynn, Kyle, Lorde, and Dan—the American one, the British one was still lost somewhere in the fray—easily enough, and had instructed them to sit down at a table while he found the rest. They all seemed rather mellow, but not sloshed, which was nice.  Josh tapped out a quick text to the group chat saying where to meet up, but his hopes of that succeeding were low. 

                After about twenty minutes of searching, Josh had found a somewhat-tipsy Brendon, Dan, and Halsey seated at the bar and loudly and cheerfully debating various things—Josh found their conversation a bit difficult to follow, but from what he could gather it ranged from the best methods of writing songs to their favorite color—and why it was the best, and not the others’ favorite colors—to what was the best to order at Chick-fil-A.  Josh thought he heard them mention once or twice whether or not Gandalf was justified in leaving the Company alone for so long, but he wasn’t sure. 

                He snorted at their conversation, but had to interrupt to corral everyone. “All right, I know this conversation is riveting, but we’ve got to head home.  I know some people have work tomorrow.”

                The three pairs of forlorn puppy-dog eyes that were directed at Josh made him crack up briefly.  After his laughter had calmed down, Josh hauled the three up from their seats and led them over to the rest of the group. 

 

o—------O—------o

 

                When they had all made it out of the bar and over to Josh’s car, Josh couldn’t help but being laughing again.  This time everyone else had joined in as they admired Brendon’s new accessories: a sparkly golden party hat hung around his neck on the elastic, he held an elaborately carved cane that looked suspiciously like Lucius Malfoy’s, and he had on some incredibly tall and elegant high heels. To Brendon’s credit, he wore then incredibly well and hadn’t once stumbled, despite being tipsy.  As the group clambered into the car, Halsey called out, “Brendon!  We’ve forgotten your noble steed!”  Josh looked over to where Halsey was pointing and giggling, and only saw an empty parking lot with two shopping carts. 

                His confusion was interrupted by a burst of giggles from everyone in the car.  At his look of confusion, Dan (the American one) explained, “About thirty minutes in, Brendon and Halsey had a shopping cart race and went pretty far. Brendon won, but only from, and I quote, ‘Much experience from many parties’.” Josh nodded in understanding—sort of. 

                He started the car, and began to drive to drop off everyone.  A comfortable, tired silence filled the car, interrupted by the occasional giggle or joke.  At one point, Josh wasn’t sure, but he was pretty sure that Brendon said, “I’m _not_ as think and you drunk I am, Halsey.  Just don’t threaten me with a good time, okay?”  Josh felt his shoulders shake in silent laughter, and noticed that Kyle in the passenger seat was laughing as well. 

                A content smile spread across Josh’s face as he drove to the soundtrack of his old and new friends being happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shamelessly inserts aro-ace character because yes*
> 
> Yeah so there are lots of references, yes I'm that lame, sorry. 
> 
> Also! I finally decided on a name for the cafe at which they work--the Grin And Bear It cafe--yes it's lame but it's all I could think of (three guesses as to who owns it ;P) oooh and I decided on the name of the art store: The Paint Rush (ahah like paint brush? but not?)  
> \---If there are any inconsistencies/things I should insert/things I should take out/things I should change or fix/something you'd like, tell me! I'll try and put it it =)
> 
>  
> 
> (oh my gosh it's thundering/raining really hard right now it was nice living o.o)
> 
> Stay street pals

**Author's Note:**

> if you find any mistakes please don't hesitate to point them out :D
> 
> thanks for reading! let's hope I can motivate my sorry self to write something soon (and longer than this eheh)
> 
> oh! also I got a tumblr tooooo (but I'm a really lame person I'm sorry)  
> it's starswithhiddenfires as well  
> (I'm super creative and original, it's not like my instagram, ao3, and tumblr all have the same username wat)
> 
> but yeah thanks for reading *snappy-pointer-finger-guns thing because yes I really am that lame*  
> you lot are sick as frick 
> 
> ::..Stay Street..::  
> ]Stay Alive pals[


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